News & Insights
Vance says Fed should lower interest rates: ‘Would be nice to have some help’
4 Sep 2026
The Federal Reserve should cut interest rates to make homes more affordable, Vice President JD Vance said Thursday, adding to the pressure President Donald Trump has placed on the central bank to cut borrowing costs. The remarks came days after Trump’s handpicked Fed…
Read moreThe one thing that caught Goldman Sachs’ notice this earnings season
4 Sep 2026
After the relentless barrage of ASX earnings announcements during the August reporting season, the one thing that stood out the most for Goldman Sachs was the number of companies that rallied on better-than-expected results only…
Read moreTSMC to invest additional $100 billion in Arizona after second-quarter profit soars 77%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co on Thursday reported a 77.4% jump in second-quarter profit year on year, soaring past estimates as the world’s largest contract-chipmaker continues to set consecutive record-breaking milestones. Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/16/tsmc-second-quarter-profit-.html
Melbourne Storm’s owners tap Jefferies to sell partial stake
The owners of rugby league club Melbourne Storm have drafted investment bank Jefferies to run a capital-raising effort as they seek to upgrade the team’s headquarters and training base and finalise a new centre of…
SpaceX IPO now looks like a cynical joke. It’s more serious than that
Iconic Wall Street investor Peter Lynch was not a fan of buying into sharemarket floats, and liked to say that IPO actually stood for “it’s probably overpriced”. There would be plenty of investors wishing they’d…
ASX to drop, tech rally fades
Australian shares are set to drop as a rally in chipmakers faded, causing the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to slip. The slide in tech shadowed an upbeat start to second-quarter earnings, while investors parsed…
As prediction markets boom, questions arise over who will be the watchdog
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/16/the-sec-may-get-involved-as-prediction-market-bring-new-contracts.html
Pacific Playbook – 2H 2026
Positioning for the Next Phase of Global Markets As we enter the second half of 2026, we’re sharing a concise overview of the key macroeconomic themes shaping global markets—and how investors can position portfolios thoughtfully…
Former Telstra chairman slams Canberra’s ‘self-serving’ outage outrage
Former Telstra chairman John Mullen has delivered a stinging attack on what he calls the self-serving moral outrage of some politicians following last week’s nationwide outage, defending chief executive Vicki Brady as an exceptional leader…
Investors pile into income ETFs to shelter from tax changes
Australian investors are on the hunt for income and are piling into exchange-traded funds that are focused on dividends, bonds and cash amid higher interest rates and looming changes to capital gains tax. Money flowing…
Aussie dollar under threat as Trump’s blockade triggers rate fears
Hopes for a rebound in the Australian dollar are hanging by a thread after US President Donald Trump reinstated a blockade through the Strait of Hormuz and traders ramped up their bets for a US…
US banks smash earnings records, despite ‘tectonic’ risks
In a world of uncertainty, one reliable rule is that Wall Street will find a way to make money. That was underscored with emphasis Tuesday when four of the largest banks in the United States…